BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli border police on Friday arrested a Palestinian allegedly armed with a knife near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

Israeli news website Ynet reported that a Palestinian man, whose identity remained unknown, was arrested when trying to enter the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City of Hebron.

The man was detained for “further investigation,” Ynet said.

Israeli forces have detained scores of Palestinians, many of the minors, for allegedly being in possession of knives following a spate of alleged and actual small-scale knife attacks by Palestinians that surged in the fall of 2015.

Hebron in particular grew as the epicenter of upheaval, with a number of Palestinians having been shot while being detained at military checkpoints in the area.

Eyewitnesses have also said in a number of cases that Israeli security forces planted knives on slain or imprisoned Palestinians to claim that they were acting in self-defense during a stabbing attack.